Protect Your Spouse

Are you currently married or have someone that you deeply care about? As awful as it may be to think about, unexpected things happen every day, and it’s a simple fact that you might not be around tomorrow. Accidents are a way of life and they could happen at any time. Because of this uncertainty, you should do everything you can to make sure that your significant other is taken care of in the event that you pass away.

Important Areas of Life

What is one of the biggest purchases that you ever made? For most people, this is their house. On the average, home values are upwards of $200,000 which sounds great and all, but how much of that value is actually yours and how much is the bank’s? For most, they own about 20% of the value of their home and the bank owns the other 80%. This means that if you pass away, your spouse is left with the responsibility of paying that mortgage.

What if you were the breadwinner in the house? What if his/her income is insufficient to cover the cost of the mortgage payments each month? How can you protect your spouse from this huge reoccurring payment? The way I see it, there are at least two options.

Life Insurance

Since there are many expenses that your significant other might incur after your passing, it would most likely be wise to set up a life insurance policy. The typical rule of thumb is that you set yourself up with a payout that is 10 times the amount of your yearly expenses. This way your partner won’t have to worry about the bills being paid for a very long time. Rather than immediately thinking about how he/she will survive, he/she will be able to mourn your passing and move on with life in a healthy way.

Mortgage Insurance

Since your biggest expense is the mortgage, why not just take care of it directly? It is quite common these days to protect your partner by taking out a policy that will automatically pay the mortgage if you pass away. This policy is simply called, mortgage insurance. It will not only allow your spouse to be worry-free about the house, but it will take away some of the frustrations about what to do with the money from a life insurance policy. If you delegate the policies to take care of specific debts, it is much more simple for your partner to handle the responsibilities that remain.

Funeral Insurance

Another large expense that is often overlooked is the funeral expense. A very simple funeral today can cost $10,000. I don’t know about you, but there aren’t too many people that just have an extra $10k floating around for kicks. In addition to the very stressful time of your death, a spouse often has to incur another debt just to cover the expenses of the funeral! Setting yourself up with a funeral insurance policy can be quite simple as

well, and as long as the policy exists, you know that your partner will be covered in the event that anything happens to you.